E.U. Commissioner says U.S. Should Follow Europe on Privacy

By Nick Clayton

With cloud computing spreading data across legislations, lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic are trying to find ways to protect individual privacy without stifling innovation against a background of international terrorism.

On Monday there was a teleconference between members of the European Commission in Brussels and the U.S. Commerce Dept. in Washington. Read Write Web has an interesting analysis suggesting that E.C. Vice President Viviane Reding was pushing for the Obama administration to follow Europe in its proposed consumer privacy bill of rights.

Comm. Reding spelled out that the goal of meetings between the heads of commercial regulators for the two governments is nothing short of “regulatory convergence” – signifying that they should come to an agreement on the language of their respective laws governing how ISPs and content providers handle personal data protection. To that end, she stated that it’s up to Washington to catch up with the “gold standard” that Europe is already setting.

The article also suggests there is continuing dialog over the thorny issue of the U.S. Patriot Act and whether U.S. law enforcement agencies should have access to information about European citizens residing on U.S. data systems.

“The European Union is following new privacy developments in the United States closely,” the joint statement reads. “Both parties are committed to working together and with other international partners to create mutual recognition frameworks that protect privacy. Both parties consider that standards in the area of personal data protection should facilitate the free flow of information, goods and services across borders. Both parties recognize that while regulatory regimes may differ between the U.S. and Europe, the common principles at the heart of both systems, now re-affirmed by the developments in the U.S., provide a basis for advancing their dialog to resolve shared privacy challenges. This mutual interest shows there is added value for the enhanced E.U.-U.S. dialogue launched with today’s data protection conference.”

But Comm. Reding’s speech, which followed the issuance of the joint statement, attempted to show who’s in charge: “I know that several Members of the European Parliament are present in Washington today and that they have a key interest in these developments. This is because in Europe the European Parliament has the final say on all international agreements that involve data sharing and concern the protection of European citizens’ personal data.”

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